Gora dialect

The Gorani or Našinski (literally meaning "our language") language is the variety of South Slavic spoken by the Gorani people in the border area between Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia. It is part of the Torlakian dialect group,^[1] which is transitional between Eastern and Western South Slavic languages.^[2][3][4][5]

Distribution and classification

The dialect is spoken across the Gora region. It is spoken in 19 villages in Kosovo, 11 in Albania, and two in the Republic of Macedonia. In Kosovo and Macedonia, it is written in either the Serbian or Macedonian Cyrillic Alphabets, whereas in Albania, the Latin Albanian alphabet is used. In the 1991 Yugoslav census, 54.8% of the inhabitants of the Gora municipality said that they spoke the Goranian language, roughly in proportion to the number who considered themselves ethnic Gorani. In the same census, a little less than half of the inhabitants of Gora considered their language Serbian.^[6]

The dialect is related to the neighbouring Prizren–South Morava dialect area to the northeast, which comprises the Serbian/Torlakian varieties spoken in the southern half of Kosovo and in southeastern Serbia, as well as to the northernmost dialects of Macedonia. In the context of Macedonian dialectology, it is described as having particular close links to the Lower Polog dialect of the Polog and Tetovo regions,^[7] which are situated just opposite the Gora area on the other side of the Šar Mountains.

Goranian has also been classified as a part of the Bulgarian dialect area, by Bulgarian^[8] as well as some foreign anthropologists.^[9] In 2007, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences sponsored and printed the first Gorani–Albanian dictionary (with 43,000 words and phrases) by Goranian researcher Nazif Dokle, who considers the language a Bulgarian dialect.^[10]

On the other hand, former Yugoslav linguists Vidoeski, Brozović and Ivić identify the Slavic dialect of the Gora region as Macedonian.^[11] According to some sources, in 2003, the Kosovo government acquired Macedonian language and grammar books to be taught in Gorani schools.

Phonological characteristics

The Gora dialect shares with standard Serbian, the northernmost dialects of Macedonian, and western dialects of Bulgarian, the vocalisation of earlier syllabic /l/ in words like vuk ('wolf') (cf. Macedonian volk, standard Bulgarian vǎlk). With Serbian it also shares the reflex of */tj, dj/ as /tɕ/, as opposed to standard Macedonian /c/ (⟨ќ⟩).^[12] With the westernmost dialects of Macedonian, as well as most of the Bulgarian dialects, it shares the reflex of "big Yus" (*/ɔ̃/) as /ə/ (ǎ) in words like pǎt ('road') (cf. Macedonian pat, Serbian put). With standard Macedonian and some Bulgarian dialects it shares the reflexes of */ĭ, ŭ/ as /e, o/ in words like den ('day') and son ('dream'). With standard Macedonian, standard Serbian and some Bulgarian dialects it shares the retention of syllabic /r/ in words like krv ('blood').^[13]

Examples

Typical words

Here is a song sung in the typical Gora dialect.

Što se beli, gore Šar planina?

Da l'je snegče, il'je belo stado?

Nit'je snegče, nit'je belo stado.

Da je snegče, bi se rastopilo,

Da je stado, bi se rasturilo.

Več toj beše Milkino čadorče,

Pod čadorče bolna Milka lega.

Brata i gu Turci zarobili,

Zarobili, paj ga obesili.

Another two songs in Gorani, from Shishtejec

Verba đurđevdenjova

Ta što si gi granke širnala

Mori verbice đurđevdenova

Dali jeno gajle si nemala

Ja mater som go imala

Mati mi go gajle galuala

So mleko presno me ranjila

Za tija som tenka i visoka

Za tija som bela i cervena

Tvuje da ti srce izgore.

Verno libe

Gledaj me gledaj libe, abe verno libe,

nagledaj mi se dur ti som ovde.

Utre ke odim abe vrno libe dalek-dalek

na pusti Gurbet.

Racaj, poracaj libe šo da ti kupim,

ti da mi kupiš

abe gledaniku cerna šamija, ja da ga nosim

abe gledaniku i da ga želam.

Racaj, poracaj abe verno

libe šo da ti pratim

Ti da mi pratiš abe

gledaniku šarena knjiga

Ja da ga pujem abe

gledaniku i da ga želam

References